Following is an extract from Karan Varker’s rsc reflections, as featured in a book compiled by her “The Love of Christ impels us…to the ends of the earth”, 2015.
Bougainville
After teaching for over twenty-five years in Sydney and Melbourne, I was missioned to St Mary’s Girls Boarding School, Asitavi, Bougainville, expecting paradise. Instead, I became caught up in a violent civil war that lasted over ten years.
The Melanesian girls I taught were courageous, intelligent and multilingual. Behind the school was an active volcano and if it was smoking, it was safe. I checked each day!
The war had left us without a nurse, so I took on the role. Malaria and tropical ulcers were common and afflicted most of us.
As fighting and violence intensified the girls’ villages were being burnt and their families and some local religious sisters disappeared for safety into the jungle.
The situation become extremely dangerous, and I was distressed at the suffering. At the end of the school year, I returned to Australia and the school was destroyed by rebels. All schools closed and did not open until ten years later.
During this time, I wrote a poem which ended:
“Once I went to Bougainville, once in a lifetime rare.
Once I went to Bougainville, now a part of my heart is there.”
Karan Varker rsc with staff at St Mary’s High School, Bougainville c.1989.
Samoa and American Samoa
I was then missioned to St Mary’s College, Vaimoso, Samoa, to teach English, Mathematics, and Religious Education to eighty year 12 Polynesian girls. I took care of the library and assisted the principal. As teacher trainer I helped Catholic school teachers gain government recognition and accreditation.
I survived dengue fever, a severe four-day cyclone and a damaging earthquake which split the wall of my class room from top to bottom.
After five years at Vaimoso, I went as principal to St Teresa’s School, American Samoa, a Kindergarten to Year 8 school. Despite heat, flooding, lack of finance and insufficient classroom space, we were able to offer quality education to students.
Solomon Islands
Following a request from the bishop of Gizo, I set up a Catechetical program in the Western Province. It was a challenge because a program had to be developed appropriate to local customs and culture.
Daily I travelled by “tinnie”, which was alright when the sea was calm but as it was often rough, I prayed “Dear God, please don’t let me die in the sea. I just want to die in my bed!”
A local Dominican sister affectionately called me the “midwife” of Catholic education in the diocese. This lovely compliment and the delightful gratitude the teachers expressed made the many difficulties fade into the background.
Karan Varker rscwith staff at St Teresa’s School, American Samoa c.1998.